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US Envoys Urge Netanyahu to Move into Gaza Ceasefire’s Second Phase

Tents housing displaced Palestinians are erected on empty land near buildings destroyed by the Israeli military, in Gaza City on January 24, 2026. (AFP)
Tents housing displaced Palestinians are erected on empty land near buildings destroyed by the Israeli military, in Gaza City on January 24, 2026. (AFP)
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US Envoys Urge Netanyahu to Move into Gaza Ceasefire’s Second Phase

Tents housing displaced Palestinians are erected on empty land near buildings destroyed by the Israeli military, in Gaza City on January 24, 2026. (AFP)
Tents housing displaced Palestinians are erected on empty land near buildings destroyed by the Israeli military, in Gaza City on January 24, 2026. (AFP)

Top US envoys met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday, urging his government to move into the second phase of the ceasefire in Gaza.

Netanyahu met with US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and Middle East adviser, according to the prime minister's office, which did not give details. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity to describe the talks, told reporters the envoys had been working closely with Netanyahu on recovering the remains of the last hostage in Gaza, and on the next steps for demilitarizing the territory.

The US is anxious to keep the Trump-brokered deal moving, but Netanyahu faces pressure to wait until Hamas returns the hostage's remains.

The biggest signal of the second phase would be the reopening of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Ali Shaath, the head of a future technocratic government in Gaza that is expected to run day-to-day affairs, said Thursday the border crossing will open in both directions this coming week.

There was no confirmation from Israel, which said it would consider the matter this week. The crossing's Gaza side is currently under Israeli military control.

The family of Ran Gvili, whose body is still in Gaza, urged more pressure on Hamas. "President Trump himself stated this week in Davos that Hamas knows exactly where our son is being held," the family said Saturday. "Hamas is deceiving the international community and refusing to return our son, the last remaining hostage, in what constitutes a clear violation of the agreement it signed."

Hamas said Wednesday it has provided "all information" it has on Gvili’s remains to ceasefire mediators and accused Israel of obstructing search efforts in areas it controls in Gaza. The ceasefire took effect on Oct. 10.

Egypt pushes for Rafah crossing to open

Egypt’s top diplomat pressed for an immediate opening of the Rafah crossing with the director of Trump’s new Board of Peace in Gaza, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said Saturday, including the ability of Palestinians to enter and exit the territory.

Foreign Minister Bader Abdelatty spoke by phone with Bulgarian diplomat Nickolay Mladenov, the high representative for Gaza, the ministry said in a statement. They discussed the implementation of the ceasefire's second phase, including the deployment of an international monitoring force, the opening of the Rafah crossing in both directions and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip, the statement said.

The Egyptian minister said implementing the second phase is a "key entry point" to launch Gaza’s reconstruction. The statement didn’t say when the crossing will open for travelers and the evacuation of sick and wounded.

Israel is expected to discuss opening the Rafah crossing during Sunday's Cabinet meeting.

Hamas in a statement Saturday said a delegation met in Istanbul with the head of Türkiye's National Intelligence Organization about the ceasefire's second phase and "the fulfillment of the requirements of the first phase."

2 teens killed in Gaza

Also on Saturday, an Israeli strike killed two Palestinian teens in Gaza, according to hospital authorities. The boys, cousins aged 13 and 15, were searching for firewood, according to Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, which received the bodies.

The boys were killed in the area that Israel's military has said is safe for Palestinians, about 500 meters (yards) from the Yellow Line, which separates the Israeli-controlled areas in eastern Gaza from the rest of the strip, said a relative, Arafat al-Zawara.

Israel's military said it had targeted several fighters who crossed the Yellow Line and planted explosives, threatening troops. It denied that those killed were children.

Since the ceasefire, more than 480 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by UN agencies and independent experts. Israel disputes its figures but has not provided its own.

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Arab World

Strike Kills 2 Academics at Lebanese University as Israel Bombs Central Beirut

People stand amid debris in front of damaged buildings in the aftermath of a reported Israeli strike in Zuqaq al-Blat, central Beirut, Lebanon March 12, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
People stand amid debris in front of damaged buildings in the aftermath of a reported Israeli strike in Zuqaq al-Blat, central Beirut, Lebanon March 12, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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Strike Kills 2 Academics at Lebanese University as Israel Bombs Central Beirut

People stand amid debris in front of damaged buildings in the aftermath of a reported Israeli strike in Zuqaq al-Blat, central Beirut, Lebanon March 12, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
People stand amid debris in front of damaged buildings in the aftermath of a reported Israeli strike in Zuqaq al-Blat, central Beirut, Lebanon March 12, 2026. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

An Israeli strike that hit in the vicinity of Lebanon’s only public university killed the director of the faculty of sciences Hussein Bazzi and professor Mortada Srour.

The campus is in Hadath, on the outskirts of Beirut’s southern suburbs, which Israel had warned last week should be evacuated.

It was not clear whether the campus was directly targeted, but smoke could be seen rising near the building’s courtyard in the aftermath.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the bombing, which he said targeted the campus, as a crime and a “violation of international laws and norms that prohibit attacks on educational institutions and civilians.”

Israel’s military said Thursday night it had begun another wave of strikes on Lebanon’s capital, saying it was targeting Hezbollah sites.

Israeli strikes hit two buildings in busy residential and commercial districts near central Beirut.

Arab World

How Israel Crippled Gaza's Fishing

A Palestinian man stands on the door of a refrigerator that he uses as a makeshift rowing boat, as he throws his fishing basket into the sea at the port of Gaza City on March 9, 2025. (Photo by BASHAR TALEB / AFP)
A Palestinian man stands on the door of a refrigerator that he uses as a makeshift rowing boat, as he throws his fishing basket into the sea at the port of Gaza City on March 9, 2025. (Photo by BASHAR TALEB / AFP)
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How Israel Crippled Gaza's Fishing

A Palestinian man stands on the door of a refrigerator that he uses as a makeshift rowing boat, as he throws his fishing basket into the sea at the port of Gaza City on March 9, 2025. (Photo by BASHAR TALEB / AFP)
A Palestinian man stands on the door of a refrigerator that he uses as a makeshift rowing boat, as he throws his fishing basket into the sea at the port of Gaza City on March 9, 2025. (Photo by BASHAR TALEB / AFP)

Fishermen in Gaza say they are facing their toughest conditions since the start of the Israeli war, with Israeli forces preventing them from accessing the sea to earn a living and exposing them to gunfire or arrest, both during periods of truce and even after the ceasefire reached last October.

Israeli forces target Gaza fishermen with live ammunition or detain some for allegedly violating bans on fishing or even diving. Restrictions imposed on Gaza residents also leave them largely unable to swim.

Nafez Jarbou, 53, a fisherman from the Beach refugee camp west of Gaza City, told Asharq Al-Awsat that Israeli naval boats destroyed his fishing vessel during the war. He supports a family of 16, including four relatives who worked with him in fishing, all of whom lost their livelihoods.

“When the first truce began in January 2025, we tried to return to fishing using another boat belonging to neighbors whose sons, also fishermen, were killed by Israeli forces,” Jarbou said. “But we were surprised to find we were still barred from fishing.”

Hope briefly returned after the ceasefire was announced. But Jarbou said that, like thousands of other fishermen, he encountered “severe restrictions.” He later tried to resume fishing with his sons within less than one nautical mile from Gaza City’s shoreline.

Israeli naval boats continued to pursue them, opening fire or attempting to arrest them and confiscate their boats, he said.

Diving replaces fishing

With traditional fishing routes effectively closed despite the ceasefire, Gaza’s fishing activity has sharply declined. Even fishing within a one-nautical-mile range has become increasingly restricted.

Faced with these limits, fishermen have turned to diving with simple, rudimentary equipment to avoid being pursued or targeted.

But Jarbou said diving prevents them from catching most types of fish.

“All we can catch now is small sardines, which are not in high demand,” he said.

According to the Gaza Fishermen’s Union, more than 5,000 fishermen worked in the sector before the war.

At least 235 have been killed during Israeli military operations, most in airstrikes that hit their homes or the homes of relatives.

Another 40 fishermen were killed, and dozens were wounded while working at sea at extremely short distances from shore, sometimes less than 500 meters, and in some cases just 200 meters. Israeli forces have also arrested around 43 fishermen.

Mohammed al-Habil, 31, from the Beach refugee camp, was recently released after being detained off Gaza City’s coast.

“We went through a long ordeal in prison after I was arrested with two of my relatives while working at sea to make a living,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Al-Habil said interrogators did not focus on his fishing work but instead sought “information about Hamas members in my area.”

He added that Israeli forces have long targeted fishermen, even before the latest war, attempting to arrest them and recruit them as informants.

“Words cannot describe our living conditions,” he said. “We have joined the large army of unemployed in Gaza.”

He questioned the role of mediators overseeing the ceasefire in ensuring safety for fishermen and allowing them to work at least within two or three nautical miles, an area he said “would not pose any security threat to Israel.”

“Starvation policy”

Zakaria Bakr, head of the Union of Workers in Gaza’s fishing sector, said Israel is “deliberately depriving fishermen of work at sea to starve them,” describing the move as part of a collective punishment policy against the enclave.

Preventing fishing, even within limited distances, despite the ceasefire shows the main goal is to destroy what remains of the fishing sector, which has already suffered heavy damage since the war began, he said.

“What is happening is the destruction of fishermen by depriving them of their livelihoods,” Bakr told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Each fisherman supports at least four family members who depend on the fish they sell, fish that are now largely unavailable under current restrictions imposed by Israel, he said.

The Gaza Center for Human Rights said Israel has imposed strict restrictions aimed at the comprehensive destruction of the fishing sector’s infrastructure and deepening a policy of starvation affecting thousands of fishermen’s families.

The group said Israeli forces destroyed trawlers and large fishing vessels, the backbone of Gaza’s fish production, inside the main Gaza port and the harbors of Khan Younis and Rafah, putting them permanently out of service.

More than 95% of small boats and more than 100 larger vessels have been destroyed, along with fishing equipment and boat-building workshops, it said.

Arab World

UN: Over 200 Civilians Reported Killed in Sudan Drone Strikes Since March 4

Residents receive aid from World Food Programme (WFP) at Al-Omada neighbourhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum on March 11, 2026. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
Residents receive aid from World Food Programme (WFP) at Al-Omada neighbourhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum on March 11, 2026. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
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UN: Over 200 Civilians Reported Killed in Sudan Drone Strikes Since March 4

Residents receive aid from World Food Programme (WFP) at Al-Omada neighbourhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum on March 11, 2026. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)
Residents receive aid from World Food Programme (WFP) at Al-Omada neighbourhood of Omdurman, the twin city of Khartoum on March 11, 2026. (Photo by Ebrahim Hamid / AFP)

UN rights chief Volker Turk said Thursday he was "appalled" at reports that more than 200 civilians had been killed by drone attacks in Sudan since March 4.

"It is deeply troubling that despite multiple reminders, warnings and appeals, parties to the conflict in Sudan continue to use increasingly powerful drones to deploy explosive weapons with wide-area impacts in populated areas," Turk said in a statement.

Dozens of civilians have been killed in drone strikes across southern Sudan over the past two days, medical sources told AFP on Wednesday, as some of the heaviest fighting of the nearly three-year war grips the region.

Sudan has been riven by conflict since April 2023, when a power struggle between the regular army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) plunged the country into a war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions.

Since the war broke out, both sides have been accused of war crimes, including targeting civilians and indiscriminately shelling residential areas.